Good Kid’s Self-Titled “Good Kid EP” [Review]

Sometimes you start listening to an album because you’ve heard so much about it, or because one of your music services keeps recommending them, or maybe because the album art looks cool. In this case, it’s the latter two.

The Toronto-based band Good Kid released their self-titled EP on June 15th, 2018 to high praise. Good Kid’s “Good Kid EP” is an indie rock album consisting of the band’s four previously released singles as well as two new songs. This EP was a couple of years in the making with the band’s first single, “Nomu”, releasing in October 2015.

The “Good Kid EP” is one of the most upbeat collection of songs I’ve ever heard in my life. You could add all of these songs to your workout/running playlist and it’s not going to slow you down. That’s compounded by the fact that each of these songs is pretty short. Of all 6 tracks on this EP, the longest song is 3:17, bringing the total runtime to only 16 minutes and 36 seconds. While this isn’t a bad thing at all, it does leave you wanting a lot more. The good thing is, the songs don’t overstay their welcome. The EP does suffer the issue that some of the songs do tend to blend together. While they all sound a bit different from each other, to a new listener’s ear, it might be a bit hard to tell one piece apart from another. One of the really interesting things about this EP is that Good Kid takes on some darker than expected things with how upbeat their music is.

I said that every song can be added to your running playlist and “Nomu” makes you want to just jump up and sprint. Everything instrument in this song is incredibly upbeat and bright, with the guitar absolutely carrying this piece as well as the drums. The vocals are very pop-punk and despite the amped-up energy that this track brings, the lyrics tell a different story. The song describes a couple who had strong feelings for each other at the beginning of their relationship, but as it progressed they drifted further and further apart.

“Tell Me You Know” is the story of a couple who haven’t been together in a few years. The singer tells us how they’ve basically started a new life by changing their name, appearance, and moving away. While their ex has tried to reach out, the singer is fearful because they’ve distanced themself from who they once were. Instrumentally, the same techniques are used with the guitars taking the front seat and the drums in the back.

“Alchemist” is a song about the anime “Fullmetal Alchemist”. While I haven’t personally seen this anime, this song apparently mirrors the themes of the anime, those being themes of focus on trying to attain what they had once lost. This track has an excellent guitar solo toward the end of it that sets it apart from the rest of the EP.

“Witches” appears to be a song about two old friends who grew up together in the same neighborhood, fell out of touch, and are reconciling, perhaps even debating starting a relationship. Unfortunately, this is where the EP starts to sound similar to other songs. The band hasn’t really done much to differentiate their sound from each other. The drums sound as if they could’ve been copied from another one of their songs and you couldn’t tell much of a difference.

I think “Faster” is probably the weakest track on this EP. The song sounds pretty much like every other track on this EP and the lyrics are too broad to have any real meaning. The song is a bit repetitive and there isn’t much else to be said about it. While it isn’t a bad sounding track it’s just more of the same.

The EP closes out with probably the most different sounding track, “Atlas”. While we do see pretty similar techniques used with guitar and drums, the tonal shift in the instruments, as well as the vocals, make this track sound much more distinct than what we heard before. This song is most likely a reference to the Greek Titan of the same name, ‘Atlas’. Known for holding up the sky for eternity, the lyrics describe someone who can’t stand up for themselves or can’t pull their own.

Final Thoughts

“Good Kid”’s self-titled EP is a rush of dopamine that is pretty much guaranteed to leave at least one song stuck in your head. While it does get a bit repetitive at times, the darker themes that the album contrasts with such cheerful music is something that’s rather unique to this EP. For their first EP, “Good Kid” shows a lot of promise and I hope we can see them innovate a bit more while pumping out some more amazing jams.

Album Score: 7/10Favorite track: “Nomu”

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